Galaxies are like cosmic gems, each with characteristics including size and shape that make them distinct. A new gallery released today from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes displays a collection of galactic images that showcase this variety.
星系就像宇宙宝石，每个星系都具有使其与众不同的特征，包括大小和形状。美国宇航局钱德拉 X 射线天文台和其他望远镜今天发布的一个新图库展示了一系列星系图像，展示了这种多样性。
Astronomers put galaxies into three main categories: spirals like our own Milky Way with arms emanating from their cores, ellipticals that are older and likely the results of mergers, and irregulars that can encompass a wide range of galactic phenomena.
天文学家将星系分为三大类：像我们银河系一样的螺旋星系，其旋臂从其核心发出；椭圆星系，年龄较老，可能是合并的结果；以及不规则星系，可以涵盖广泛的星系现象。
Just as gems reveal the history of Earth through how they were forged over billions of years, these galactic gems are a way to study Earth’s place in our home galaxy of the Milky Way. By looking outward to other galaxies, we learn more about our own – including clues to its past and future.
正如宝石通过数十亿年的形成过程揭示了地球的历史一样，这些银河宝石也是研究地球在银河系中位置的一种方式。通过向外观察其他星系，我们可以更多地了解我们自己的星系——包括它的过去和未来的线索。
There are 16 new images in this galactic gallery. Each one contains X-ray data from Chandra that has been collected across Chandra’s decades in space. This high-energy data has been combined with data from telescopes such as NASA’s James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes, IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array), and others both on the ground and in space.
这个银河图库中有 16 张新图像。每一张都包含钱德拉在太空中数十年收集的 X 射线数据。这些高能数据已与来自 NASA 詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜和哈勃太空望远镜、IXPE（成像 X 射线偏振测量探测器）、Neil Gehrels Swift 天文台、NuSTAR（核光谱望远镜阵列）以及其他地面和太空望远镜的数据相结合。
X-rays are critical for the study of galaxies, revealing unique and important information about these cosmic building blocks. For example, Chandra exposes gas that has been superheated to millions of degrees by winds from massive stars, the outflows from supermassive black holes, and the debris from exploded stars. These are key sources of elements in our bodies, in the air we breathe, and the planet we live on. Chandra also sees some of the hottest and most energetic galactic phenomena in the universe, forming a more complete picture of how galaxies live, interact, and evolve when combined with data from other types of light and telescopes.
X 射线对于星系研究至关重要，它揭示了有关这些宇宙构件的独特而重要的信息。例如，钱德拉暴露了因大质量恒星的风、超大质量黑洞的流出物以及恒星爆炸的碎片而过热至数百万度的气体。这些是我们身体、我们呼吸的空气以及我们赖以生存的星球中元素的关键来源。钱德拉还看到了宇宙中一些最热、最具活力的星系现象，与其他类型的光和望远镜的数据相结合，形成了关于星系如何生存、相互作用和演化的更完整的图景。
Face-on spiral galaxies like Messier 33 and NGC 3938 offer unobstructed views of places where energetic pairs of stars and cosmic explosions live along spiral arms. Barred spirals like NGC 1672 and NGC 1385 show how central bar-shaped collections of stars, gas, and dust funnel fuel inward to ignite bursts of star formation. NGC 4725 reveals how star formation can be triggered by a previous collision with another galaxy. Meanwhile, edge-on views of NGC 4631 (the Whale Galaxy) and the starburst Messier 82 (the Cigar Galaxy) showcase giant halos and superwinds of million-degree gas driven thousands of light-years into space by intense explosions of stars, enriching surrounding intergalactic space with vital elements.
面对像 Messier 33 和 NGC 3938 这样的螺旋星系，可以清晰地看到充满活力的恒星对和宇宙爆炸沿着旋臂分布的地方。像 NGC 1672 和 NGC 1385 这样的棒状螺旋星系展示了恒星、气体和尘埃的中心棒状集合如何向内输送燃料，从而引发恒星形成的爆发。 NGC 4725 揭示了先前与另一个星系的碰撞如何触发恒星形成。与此同时，NGC 4631（鲸鱼星系）和星暴 Messier 82（雪茄星系）的边缘视图展示了巨大的光环和百万度气体的超级风，这些气体被恒星的强烈爆炸驱动到数千光年之外的太空，丰富了周围的星系间空间的重要元素。
Powerful, growing black holes in the cores of their host galaxies, known as active galactic nuclei, send energy outward in outbursts and jets that impact entire galaxies. In Centaurus A, Chandra and IXPE data expose a high-energy particle jet blasting tens of thousands of light-years into space from its central engine. In Messier 106, jets from the supermassive black hole heat surrounding gas to create spiral arms that are different from those typically found in spiral galaxies. Meanwhile, the iconic Sombrero Galaxy (Messier 104) highlights a supermassive black hole embedded in a colossal stellar bulge, where Chandra’s X-rays map a diffuse halo of million-degree gas and hot stellar remnants surrounding its sweeping dust lanes.
宿主星系核心中强大且不断增长的黑洞（称为活动星系核）以爆发和喷流的形式向外发送能量，从而影响整个星系。在半人马座 A 中，钱德拉和 IXPE 的数据揭示了一股高能粒子射流从其中央发动机喷射到数万光年之外的太空。在梅西耶 106 中，来自超大质量黑洞的喷流加热周围的气体，形成与螺旋星系中常见的旋臂不同的旋臂。与此同时，标志性的草帽星系（梅西耶 104）突出显示了一个嵌入巨大恒星核球中的超大质量黑洞，钱德拉的 X 射线在其中绘制了由百万度气体和围绕其扫荡尘埃带的炽热恒星残骸组成的弥漫光环。
The gallery also showcases galaxies undergoing extreme gravitational transformations. A direct impact in Arp 143 acts like a cosmic bullseye, creating an expanding ring galaxy and triggering waves of star birth. Violent mergers, such as NGC 3256 and the dust-shrouded starburst II Zw 096, reveal the kind of chaotic galaxy collisions that dominated the early universe and offer a preview of the Milky Way’s distant future merger with nearby galaxy Andromeda. NGC 1569 acts as a local laboratory for studying early universe starbursts, NGC 660 showcases a rare “polar ring” galaxy where a ring of stars orbits over its poles, and Messier 90 shows a spiral galaxy plowing through the Virgo Cluster, having its star-forming gas violently stripped away.
该画廊还展示了经历极端引力转变的星系。 Arp 143 中的直接撞击就像宇宙的靶心一样，形成了一个不断扩大的环形星系并引发了恒星诞生的浪潮。 NGC 3256 和尘埃笼罩的星暴 II Zw 096 等剧烈合并揭示了主导早期宇宙的混乱星系碰撞，并提供了银河系在遥远的未来与附近仙女座星系合并的预览。 NGC 1569 是研究早期宇宙星暴的当地实验室，NGC 660 展示了一个罕见的“极环”星系，其中一圈恒星围绕其两极运行，Messier 90 展示了一个螺旋星系穿过室女座星团，其恒星形成气体被猛烈地剥离。
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
美国宇航局马歇尔太空飞行中心负责管理钱德拉计划。史密森天体物理观测站的钱德拉 X 射线中心控制着马萨诸塞州剑桥的科学业务和马萨诸塞州伯灵顿的飞行业务。